From 5/31/01</font id=blue>
This week’s tip is going to focus on “Life Insurance”. Most everyone has some sort of “life insurance,” right? You pay every month or it is deducted from your check. Well, I submit that the policy you pay for is not life insurance at all, it is “death insurance”. You get no benefit from it until you are no longer alive! Real life insurance comes from the money you spend on things like VHF radios, life rafts, first aid equipment, navigation equipment and, what I want to focus on this week, the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).
An EPIRB is a small battery-powered transmitting device that is carried on board… As the name implies, it is used only in case of emergency and usually only as a last resort when your marine radio is inoperable or out of range.
There are several types of EPIRBs. If disaster strikes, some float free and automatically activate; others must be activated manually. All EPIRBs float and will send out a continual signal for 48 hours. Since EPIRB signals are primarily detected by satellites that pass overhead, occasionally there may be a delay in detection (perhaps an hour) because there is no satellite currently in the area to pick up the signal. Once activated, the EPIRB should be left on to make sure the signal is available for detection by the satellite and for purposes of homing in on your location.
EPIRBs that operate on 121.5/243 MHz (category II) are the least expensive and least capable. They may cost around $400.00. These were designed in the 1970’s to alert aircraft flying by. They are not well suited for satellite detection because of the problem of distinguishing them from other signals on the same frequency. Often, multiple passes of the satellites are required to identify the signal, which can definitely delay the rescue. The 121.5 MHz EPIRB is also due to be phased out February in 2009.
The one you want is the 406 MHz EPIRB (category I) which includes a 121.5 MHz signal which is mainly used for homing. Th